


It Starts Like This

by Nny11



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), She-Ra: Princess Of Power
Genre: Co-dependence, Friendship, Gen, How did we get here?, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Canon, The Horde sucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16767736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nny11/pseuds/Nny11
Summary: Every friendship has a beginning, a middle, and unfortunately an end.So it starts like this...





	It Starts Like This

They are friends, but they are Horde. And Horde trumps everything else and every **one** else and leaves the weak ground into dust. In a system where the only way to succeed is when everyone else fails, the idea of friends is mercurial at best.

So it starts like this.

Two small girls are both being picked on because they’re  _ Shadow Weaver’s Pets _ . One of them feels a surge of righteous justice, with no regard to her own safety in retaliation, and the other a primal urge to survive, no matter the cost. It’s natural for them to form an alliance. Well, it’s natural once Adora manages to find Catra’s hiding place and pin her there long enough to explain her offer. It’s a good offer. Protection that’s guaranteed when nothing else is, from the clothes they fight over to the food they steal. Although once in an alliance those things become more regular too. It’s a bonus.

The nature of that friendship changes almost immediately. They’re children learning to be soldiers, but they are children first and children aren’t born to hate. So Adora finds Catra when she’s upset and Catra distracts Adora when she worries and soon enough the two are tangled together. 

Even in sleep.

“It’s for protection!” Catra huffs the first night she climbs into Adora’s bed. “Besides, we can escape easier here.”

“Well you could get away faster up there,” Adora grumbles. She’s still sleepy and now grumpy as Catra elbows her way around.

Catra flicks her ears in annoyance, poking one needle sharp claw against her forehead. “Yeah, well, I’m not doing this just for me stupid.”

It’s a novel concept, doing something for others, but Adora takes to it with gusto. 

She realizes quickly that if she helps others get better, it helps her get better, it just helps everyone. Makes them stronger, faster, smarter, and better than other squads. Catra complains but her wild grin when they’re the last squad standing makes up for it. Lonnie actually smiles. Rogelio’s tongue flicks in and out between his heavy panting. Kyle looks dazed, staring around the battlefield before giggling. It’s like a drug to realize that she did this, Adora did this. It’s a hit to the system.

So it starts like this.

Shadow Weaver has kept a close eye on them both, training and waiting and plotting. But after that victory the scales tip noticeably and her attention becomes very focused. Razor sharp and cutting both ways, always cutting both ways.

The problem with being at the top and not knowing it is the perception that everyone has the same chances as you. The problem with being at the top is that the pressure applied is heavier and with precision. It leaves Adora breathless but excited. She does well with the challenge.

The problem with not being at the top is seeing how much further you have to go. The problem with being lesser is being crushed and twisted and never being given a chance. It leaves Catra breathless and frightened, but she has ambition in spades. And she has always liked a good challenge.

Their friendship though, their friendship doesn’t falter. It grows stronger, deeper, better in many ways. Worse in others. They snap at one another, don’t pull their punches, don’t make excuses. At least not when they’re alone, in public they are always united, a wall that no one can conquer. Alone they slash and hiss and fight, not all of it play and not all of it kind, but all meant well.

Cruel kindness is a lesson they’ve learned, and so they teach.

“You promised!” Adora shouts, throwing Catra back and off into the wall.

Catra barely has time to roll out of the way of the follow up, her tail slashing through the air in agitation. “I know what I said!” 

“Yeah?” Adora stops, cocks her hip out and glares, “Then prove it. If you’re gonna protect me you have to be strong enough to do it.”

Catra bristles and spit fire for a week, but her grades go up and her rations are reinstated, and she manages to pass the fitness test with flying colors. Adora celebrates by swiping extra water rations, even if she feels horrible about it Catra deserves it, and they store them in the hidden nook where they stockpile anything they can. It’s nearly empty after Catra had been forced to dip into it, but they both promise that it will get fat again. They make good on that promise in their own ways.

So it starts like this.

Despite the chasm that threatens to swallow them the older they get, they both manage to balance on a tightrope. When one stumbles the other catches and when they’re holding hands it’s like nothing can tear them apart. It doesn’t matter if Adora is black and blue from special training or Catra is left in spasms from punishments. They always catch the other. 

Sometimes though, the arguments get heated in ways they never used to. Something awful turning just below the surface. Adora knows, she knows in her heart that if she is going to truly succeed, that she will need to let go of Catra. Shadow Weaver has made that plain and after years of watching the excitement and pride die out of her friend’s eyes, Adora knows that this can’t last forever. But she promised, so she tries anyways. Catra knows that in the end their friendship will end, but she knows in her heart of hearts that it will only happen because she’s dead. She’s not an idiot and she’s not in control, she’s never  **been** in control, and Shadow Weaver’s bite has become so much worse over the years. Catra feels a dull surprise each time she leaves Horror Hall. This can’t last forever, but she promised so she tries anyways. 

But we all know where this story goes don’t we?

All the same…

It’s starts with two friends on opposite sides of a war, committed to their allies no matter the cost. 

Because they promised.


End file.
